


Man Hunter

by valesaninja



Category: Filthy Frank - Fandom, George miller- Fandom, IDubbbzTV - Fandom, Joji miller - Fandom, Maxmoefoe - Fandom, PewDiePie - Fandom, The Filthy Frank Show (Web Series), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Chad isn’t really in this story so sorry, Developing Friendships, Developing Relationship, Dragons, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fiction, How Do I Tag, I Don't Even Know, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Inaccurate Ancient Greek Religion & Lore, Japanese Mythology & Folklore, Kissing, Minecraft Inspiration, Mythical Beings & Creatures, References to Ancient Greek Religion & Lore, Self-Indulgent, Slow Burn, Vikings, i don’t know how to write smut, i don’t know if I even wanna add smut, kill me, should i ship ian and max?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:41:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26121331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/valesaninja/pseuds/valesaninja
Summary: Self-indulgent Joji Fantasy AU I wanted to write about ft. The cancer crew and other YouTubers that I watch on the daily.This is a cross post from my account on Wattpad, you can find me under the same name :)
Relationships: Ethan Klein/Hila Klein, George "Joji" Miller/Original Character(s), Marzia Bisognin/Felix Kjellberg
Kudos: 2





	1. The Thing

"No...please...please don't do this!" 

Those were the last words I heard out of the woman's mouth. Her husband had just been murdered, and she was next. She was stabbed in the chest by a "thing" with a long and thin sword. Everything happened so quick. The old couple was sitting at a table having dinner at a bistro. Then the next second, they are both dead on the ground, blood everywhere. No one expected it, it just happened. 

"Oh my God! That thing killed them!"

"Get help!"

"Someone call the authorities right now!"

People were shouting, children were crying, everything was chaos. The "thing" that did this horrid scene was quick. It did the deed and left as fast as it did it. Some people were paralyzed with fear. Others were traumatized with the blood scattered and dead bodies over the wooden floor. I wasn't as surprised when I saw the scene go down, I saw these type of things on a daily basis sometimes. Everyone rushed to help the dead figures on the ground, I was quick to react and run after the shady figure. 

"Where the hell are you going?" A man yelled out to me.

"I gotta go after it!" I yelled back and shrugged at him. 

It ran away quickly. I was only a few feet away, keeping my distance, but making sure I didn't lose its trail. It was fast and kept running until it reached the entrance to the woods. It stopped a few feet within the thick trees. I watched as the "thing" tried to regain it's breath. The shady figure had on a straw hat with a symbol on it, unknown to me. It's body figure looked like a giant rock and wore a black robe*. It rested it's back on the trunk of a tree and panted out of breath. The straw hat made it more difficult to see it's face. I watched, anticipating it's next move. 

Then, it reached it's hand toward it's head and slowly took off the hat. It's face was revealed, a man. A man with light skin that glowed with the light of the moon. His hair was as black as the night sky, attached to his forehead by the sweat trickling down his face. His eyes were the color of the brown dirt beneath him. The man by then recovered his breath and stood up. He rested his sword down next to a rock and began to untie his robe and peel himself off it. I was shocked for his whole body came off too. The giant rock body he had was no more, and now a normal body came out instead. Out of the beast came out a man. He has a new set of clothes to accommodate his new found figure. He had a light tan, long sleeved shirt and black pants*. 

He grabbed his sword and tied it around his waist. Dragging his old body down the river, then disposing of it. He watched as it floated away and stared off into the sky. His skin looked pale with the light of the moon shining upon him. His eyes were glowing with the reflection of the moon, turning his wet dirt brown orbs to a creamy caramel. 

Slowly, quietly- making sure I did not unsettle anything around me- I pulled out an arrow and aimed at the man. I breathed in as my arm cranked the arrow behind the bow, exhaling when I let go. The wind carried the arrow swiftly towards him, making it certain the arrow would pierce right through him. But then in an instant, he turned and caught it in between his hand. My eyes widened with surprise, I didn't expect him to catch it. He then threw it back aiming towards the direction where it came out from. If I didn't move, the arrow would hit me. I jumped out from the bush were I was hiding and exposed myself.

I rolled out to safety. He watched as I slowly heaved myself from the ground. "Who are you?" The man questioned.

"I'll tell you if you tell me why you killed those people." I said in return. 

He scoffed at me. He turned around and began walking away. I was taken aback at why he decided to leave. An opportunity had show itself, I took advantage now that he had his guard down, running from behind and tackling him to the ground. My weight made him fall onto his back, I then climbed atop him. I struggled at first, but I managed to pin both his hands down to the ground.

"Who are you?" I asked. 

He looked straight in my eyes and didn't say a word. I'm not a very patient person, I don't like to wait. I took out a small knife from my side pocket and stabbed it right through his left hand. 

"AGGHHHHHH!" He screamed out.

I pulled out the knife from his hand and put it next to his face. "If you don't tell me who you are, this is going through your other hand. I suggest you start talking." I commanded.

He grunted and moaned in pain. He looked straight into my eyes again, still not saying a word. 

"Fine."

I took the blade and stabbed it through his right hand. He tried to suppress his scream and closed his eyes, grunting. He let out deep breaths trying to calm himself as blood was flowing out of his hands. He wouldn't talk so I began to dig the blade deeper into him. 

"AGHH! Okay- okay- okay!" He yelled out. "Okay, okay I'll talk...I'll talk." He groaned.

"Who are you?" I asked again.

"M-my name is Kōhe." He stuttered with the pain. 

"Why did you kill those people, Kōhe?"

"I...was hired."

"Who hired you?" 

"A white man did."

"Why did he want them dead? How much did he pay you?" I investigated further. 

"I-I don't know." He said. That didn't sound too convincing, I dug the knife more into him. 

"I don't know! I don't know why he wanted them dead!" He said, breathing hard. I saw his eyes water as he spoke. 

"He paid me a few...hundred dollars to kill them."

I analyzed the situation, thinking to myself. Kōhe was beginning to sweat, more than before. He was losing blood, he would pass out if I can't stop the bleeding. I heaved myself off him and grabbed both his wrists. I dragged him to the edge of the river and dipped his bloody hands in. Some of the blood was removed and wrapped his hands with a piece of spare cloth he had. 

I tried to lift him up enough to where he could walk. "God, you're heavier than you look." I complained and a barely audible chuckled was heard. I began to walk ourselves out of the woods and walk to the nearest hospital. 

I received some stunning faces when I passed by town carrying a almost dead man with me. "Assholes." None of them had the decency to help me carry him to a hospital. 

We got to the hospital fairly quickly for our pace. I told the nurses at the front that the same "thing" that had previously killed the two people, back at the bistro, attacked him. They believed me and helped Kōhe into a room, he needed stitches. He passed out in the middle of being stitched up. The nurse finished and we placed him down onto a bed. He had woken up, but fell asleep not long after. The nurse set painkillers on his stand for when he woke up. She said he would be unconscious for at least another few hours, in order to regain all the blood he lost and his strength as well. I took the liberty to leave him and stay in a cabin for the night and come back for him in the morning. 

~~ ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ ~~ The next Morning ~~

"Cock-a-doodle-doo!" 

The rooster had begun to crow and I woke up. It was about to be six in the morning when left the cabin, well rested, and made my way back to the hospital where Kōhe was at. 

"What do you mean he left?" I questioned the same nurse who gave him the stitches, agitated. I went to his room where the nurse had put him, but he was gone. 

I thought he was going to be out for a whole day. I quickly ran out and asked another nurse if she's seen an Asian man with black hair. Apparently no one had seen him leave. I ran outside and went searching for him. 

I ran around town looking for him, nothing. I felt like an idiot, how was it that I lost my weeks pay and it was only seven in the morning. I rendered myself tired and gave up. Instead, I went searching for a bar to grab a drink, maybe to drown out the embarrassment. As I entered, I could recognize the black haired man sitting at the counter, drinking from a glass. I knew it was him, my blood began to boil. Calmly, I made my way towards him and put my hand on his back. He turned around to face me, my hand made it to the back of his neck where I applied pressure and hit a nerve, earning a small squill from him.

"Here you are, you little bastard, I've been looking all over for you." I said with a passive aggressive tone and a devilish smile.

He took a sip from his glass. "Really? Sounds like you missed me." I squeezed his neck once more and let go. He rolled his eyes at me and I sat down next to him, asking for a drink. We sat in silence, we drank in silence. After taking a swig I had noticed he didn't have the stitches anymore. 

I cleared my throat. "What happened to your stitches?" I grabbed his hand and checked it, then the other as well.

"Didn't need 'em." He said and jerked his hand away.

I was really confused. There was no scar on either of his hands. I took another sip from my glass and grabbed his shoulder. "We need to talk." I said.

"About what?" I suddenly yanked him off his chair and dragged him with me outside. He tripped over himself as we walked towards an empty alleyway. I pinned him to the wall and put a blade to his neck. He put his arms up in defense. 

"I promise I won't cut you if you answer all my questions." I said and put a fake smile.

He rolled his eyes and put on a smile just as fake as mine. "Sure." He complied. 

"Why did you leave the hospital before I arrived?" I asked. 

"Was I supposed to wait for you?" He sassed back.

"You had me running around town like an idiot trying to find you." 

"Aw, maybe you just missed me." He said cockily. 

"You're this weeks pay and if I can't prove that you were the miserable soul that killed those two old people the other day, I swear to God's green earth I will end you where you stand." 

"Hate to break it to you sweetheart, but all the proof you want was flushed down the river last night." 

"Exactly then, give me a good reason not to stick this blade in your throat." I applied more pressured into his throat, trying to intimidate him. 

I felt his body tense up, he knew at this point I wasn't playing around anymore. I made sure not to show any sign of hesitation when I stared him down. It felt like forever, we were alone in silence. Out of random four men dressed in dark blue suits came into the same ally we were in. I didn't seem to notice them until one of them cleared their throat trying to grab our attention. I turned to face them, letting go of Kōhe. He coughed out and held his throat for comfort. 

"He wants us to take you back with him." The man spoke.

"Who?" Kōhe and I both asked them, in sync. Kōhe and I still had no idea what was going on. 

"Don't play dumb kid, you know what you did and boss wants you to pay for it." Another man answered. 

"Okay guys, you're gonna have to be more specific 'cause I still don't know who you're talking to." I said. We didn't take it seriously until one man took out a gun and pointed it at Kōhe.

"Woah, hey man." Kōhe let his throat go and put his hands up submissively. I backed up a bit. 

All four men then drew out their guns, pointing at Kōhe. I still had no idea what he was talking about. I was caught in between the madness, cursing at myself for constantly getting into fights. It was then when I heard one of them cock their gun, a flight or fight response in me reacted and threw the blade that I was in my hand at one of the men, right in the middle of his chest. As soon as he slowly hit the floor, the rest began to fire at us. I ducked away behind some barrels to avoid being hit, Kōhe drew his sword from his sleeve and pierced right through one man. The others shot multiple times at him, but he cut the bullets in half. I was mesmerized, the way his blade could cut the bullets and how graceful he looked doing it. I then realized how quickly the fight was over, Kōhe had finished off the rest of them. He retrieved his sword back into his sleeve, regaining his breath. I got out from behind saw the four men on the floor, blood everywhere.

I squat down and pulled my small blade from the man's chest. "What the hell did these guys want?" I turned to ask Kōhe as I wiped the blood off my blade with the man's shirt. 

"I...I have no idea, I don't know who these people are or what they wanted from me." He said looking down at the bodies. 

For some reason I became agitated at his response, causing me to aggressively stab the already dead man, again, in a fit of anger. "Wha- what do you mean you don't know? People don't just attack you for no apparent reason." I said as I walked over to him. 

"This is Texas, there are a lot of crazy people here." He shrugged.

"Stop. Please stop bullshiting me." I put my hand up and gestured for his mouth to stop talking. I closed my eyes for a second, trying not to lose my cool. As calmly as I could, I was able to kindly ask him again. "What did you do, Kōhe?" 

"I...I don't know, I faintly remember anything after what happened last night. Everything else that's happened is a blur to me." He softly spoke out. 

I looked up to see his eyes, something in them made me believe what he was saying was true. I huffed out. "Alright then." I said. We both stared at each other for a few more seconds when it became awkward. "We should leave, you know, before someone shows up and sees this." I joked. 

He chuckled and smiled, it was genuine this time. I began walking out of the ally, looking both ways to make sure no one was coming. I turned to signal Kōhe, but he was busy checking the bodies for whatever money they had. "Psst!" I stressed out. He looked up and bagged a few green dollars in his pocket. He quickly made his way over and we both left the ally, as if nothing had happened. We walked a few blocks down, away from the scene. 

"AAH!" A loud, piercing cry was heard. 

Kōhe and I turned, as we both feared, a lady had found the dead men and began to scream for help. I could feel my heart begin to beat out of my chest as a couple of sheriffs ran down the same street we were on, towards our direction and ran right past us. "We gotta get out of here." Kōhe said, looking back at the scene. I gulped hard and began walking again. 

A few more blocks down was a train station. We filed in line. "Okay, we're gonna have to split from here, that way they can't catch us both." I nodded in agreement to Kōhe's plan. A perfect getaway. We stood in line when a sudden realization hit me. I began to panic. My hands were going crazy as they danced along my body, searching for something that wasn't there. Kōhe saw and placed a hand on me. "What's wrong?" 

My hands kept searching. "No-no-no-no." I frantically said. "I lost my blade." I looked up at Kōhe. 

He furrowed his eyebrows. "Okay, um, where did you lose it?" He tried to help me remember. 

I searched in my pocket for the last time, my eyes going wide right after. "oh no...I left it in one of the men in the alleyway." I whispered. Kōhe, who was right next to me, heard and his eyes went wide as well. I was already imagining how life inside a jail cell would be, my mind wondering into oblivion. It wasn't until Kōhe snapped me out of it. 

"It's fine, they don't know it was yours, right? It didn't have your name on it, did it?" 

"No, it didn't. It did have initials at the bottom though." I answered. 

"Are they your initials?" He asked.

"No." 

Kōhe sighed in relief and held my shoulder. "There's no way they'll know it was yours then." He said, trying to ease me. I gave into what he was conveying and nodded my head. I had calmed myself enough when it was his turn in line. He walked up to the counter while I waited my turn in line. I stared at the ground, my head was still spinning around the whole situation, I faintly heard Kōhe ask for two tickets for the same train. I shot my head up and saw him make his way towards me. He grabbed my arm and moved me out of line. 

He was hauling me into a train with him. "What's going on? I thought we were going our separate ways." I asked as he set me down in a seat by the window and he sat on the edge. 

"We were, but then I realized how dangerous that would be." He looked around. 

"How so?"

"After you told me that your blade had initials on it, I realized how easy it would be for more of the same guys who attacked us today to find you." He explained. 

It did make sense, but I still didn't see why he cared. "Well wouldn't that give you more reason to let me go on my own?"

He turned to look down at me. "And let you die because of me? I can't do that." He shook his head. 

Knowing he wanted to protect me made me feel soft and mushy on the inside. "Aww, so you do care about me." I cooed at him, grabbing onto his big arm as to show how small I was compared to him. 

He scoffed out and softly jerked his arm away, but still let me grab ahold of it. "Nah it's not like that, I just don't like the idea of me sending you out there alone when a bunch of creeps are gonna come after you." He shrugged. 

I blushed as I saw his cheeks go a shade of pink. I bit my lip and let him believe whatever lie he made up, even though I knew he really did care. "Okay then, whatever you say. Thank you for protecting me." I sarcastically jeered at him, squeezing his bicep. 

He chuckled out in amusement, he was having fun with this as was I. "You know, I'm still bummed out about forgetting my blade, my grandpa gave it to me." I rested my head on his shoulder. 

I felt his head turn to look down at me. "Were his initials the ones on the blade?" He asked. 

"Yeah...kinda meant a lot to me." I admitted, squeezing him a bit harder.

I felt his chest rise when he sighed out. "If you want, we can find you a new blade where we're going."

"Really? Where?" 

"California."

His idea was very appealing to me. The train's engine had begun. I've never been to California, I wonder if Kōhe has been there. My head still rested on Kōhe's arm as I looked out the window of the barely moving train. I stared outside when I felt my hand being held onto. My attention was now on my hand which was entangled with his. I smiled and felt my cheeks grow warm. "Doesn't want me to go on my own." I giggled quietly to myself. I became snug against him, beginning to drift off into a sleep. I didn't know what I'd wake up to when we arrived.


	2. California

I suddenly felt my head drop to my side, Kōhe had moved and I had no more neck support to rest on. "Aw, come back." I groaned out, feeling my hand was no longer intertwined with his either.

"C'mon Eli, time to get up." I squint open my eyes and saw Kōhe getting up. The train had stopped and people were getting off. He grabbed my arm and helped me up. We walked off the train and exited the station. It was barely getting to be about seven in the morning, the sun was already in the sky shining.

"Do you need to use the bathroom? We might not find one ahead." He suggested we use one before we start the trip.

I nodded my head and entered the ladies room as he entered the men's room. When I entered the ladies room, the line was unnecessarily long. If you timed it right, they only needed three or so minutes to do their business and get out. Some of these ladies were taking too damn long and my bladder wasn't having any of it. I wanted to yell at them to get out, but I knew making a scene here would get me in trouble, so I waited. After a few minutes of waiting and a few minutes of doing my business, I finally came out. I was able to immediately pick out Kōhe from the crowd, he was leaning against a wooden post surrounded by three other women in light colored, long dresses. Two of the girls were twins, definitely looked about seventeen and the older looking lady was probably their mother. I could hear the girls giggling loudly from where I was standing. The girls giggled and blushed at him, grabbing onto his arms and pressing their body against him, and the mother kept her distance. I decided to stay back a few feet and rest by a bench, waiting to see what kind of crap he'd pull on the girls.

Kōhe leaned in. "You girls want to see a magic trick, straight out of the magnificent city of Tokyo?" He asked them with the most sell out voice he could make, trying to lure the girls in.

"Ooh yes!" The girl in the sky blue dress leaned in closer into Kōhe.

"I love magic!" The other girl in the yellow dress leaned in as well.

I saw the mother inhale and stomp tip of the umbrella to the ground. "Girls, we don't have time for little side magic shows." She coldly said. The mother looked like someone out of a children's horror story. The black hair with grey streaks, her wrinkles making her look three times her age, and her eyes made her seem dead inside. She was hard to look at without feeling intimidated.

"C'mon ma'am, it'll be fun, promise I won't charge you a penny for the trick." Kōhe winked, trying to convince the lady to stay.

"Please mother, please, please, please can we stay and watch the magic trick?" Both girls were now begging to their mother as they held onto Kōhe's big arms. They kept nagging and whining, I didn't think they could get anymore annoying. I kind of felt bad for Kōhe, being that he's the one in between the two girls that are jumping up and down, looking like they'll rip his arms off if they pull any harder.

"Alright enough. We will stay and watch this man's idiotic trick and leave immediately. Understood?" She sounded tired, pure agony was heard when those words escaped, showing on her face as well.

"Ooh thank you thank you thank you, mother!" Again, both girls jumping feriously up and down, fearing they'd might tear Kōhe's arms off.

Both girls then stopped jumping, waiting for Kōhe to begin. "Hey dolls, mind letting go of my arms?" He chuckled. Both girls let go and stepped in front to face him. "I'll need an assistant if I want to make this work." Kōhe pondered. Both girls took this as their que to raise their hand to be chosen.

"Oh me Mr. Magician, pick me." They both begged, practically getting on their knees.

"I think I'll chose that handy dandy umbrella your beautiful mother has right there in her hand." Kōhe said and pointed to the old woman, he was trying so hard to get her to smile. She frowned, but before she could protest, one of the twins had snatched it and given it to him. "Thank you, doll." He smirked at her and she giggled back, blushing.

The mother had given Kōhe her death gaze, looking like she wanted to end him there for stealing her time, daughters, and now, her umbrella. I could only hear a nervous chuckle from him as I watched him stroke the umbrella. "For my magic trick today, I will predict the weather." As if they were amazed by every little thing Kōhe said, both girls gasped in shock.

Kōhe began to sniff the air and look up into the sky. "Do you dolls smell that?" He asked. The girls looked up as well and searched for whatever he was talking about.

"No, what's wrong?" One of the pale girls asked, sounding utterly concerned.

"I smell a storm brewing." He said in a deep, seductive voice.

"Oh!" Both girls gasped. "Oh no, what are we going to do if we get caught in the storm?" One asked.

Kōhe chuckled and began to stroke the umbrella with his hand. "Lucky for you lovely girls, I always bring a spare." He then suddenly pulled out a sky blue umbrella from black one. My eyes went wide, how the hell was he able to multiply the umbrella and change its color? The girls lost their minds. They began to squill and giggle, their loud noise piercing my ears. Kōhe handed the sky blue umbrella to the girl with the matching dress. Next, he pulled out a yellow umbrella from the same black one, giving it to they girl wearing the yellow dress.

Both girls giggled uncontrollably, swinging their new umbrellas around. Kōhe chuckled in amusement. "Sir." The mother cleared her throat and reached her hand out, calling Kōhe's attention. "My umbrella, please." She said sternly, requesting she'd have what belongs to her back.

"Oh yeah, right." He chuckled. As he passed her umbrella, it suddenly springed open, startling the mother, making her drop her handbag.

All three females gasped. "Ugh, you fool." The mother cursed at Kōhe. I couldn't help but laugh from where I was sitting as I watched.

"I am so sorry, ma'am. I didn't mean to." He said as he rushed to pick up her belongings from the ground, then handing them to her.

She snatched them away from him and dusted them off. "Hmph!" The mother stomped her foot down. "Let's go, girls." She commanded and began walking away.

The twins followed, glancing back at Kōhe and blowing kisses at him. He winked and waved back at them, hearing giggles before disappearing into the crowd. I rolled my eyes at how easily they fell for his stupid charm.

I made my way over to his figure leaning on the wooden post. He turned to greet me, a smug smile plastered all over his face. "What has gotten into you? You seem too happy after that little shit show." I placed my hands on my hips and cocked an eyebrow up at him.

"Those cute ass twins totally digged me." I still wasn't following, I knew that smile meant more than a little crush. "And got a little revenue out of it." He said as he smoothly pulled out a brown leather wallet from his side and showed it off to me.

My eyes went wide, "No way, you did not just swipe that from that ladies purse." I exclaimed excitedly. He only nodded yes and closed his eyes in satisfaction. "Look at the size of that beast!" I quickly snatched it from him and held it up to admire how thick it was, green bills practically coming out.

I laughed and he quickly took it back and put it away in his front pocket. "Hey watch it, Eli. There could be crooks just like us around, waiting to take what we took." He leaned down to whisper in my ear.

I scoffed out. "You mean you're the crook and what you took." I smirked. He looked offended that I accused him of such a thing. "You acted alone, I had no part in this." I backed up then put my hands up in defense.

He still looked offended, obviously playing around. I then playfully nugged him on the shoulder. "C'mon, I think we should celebrate with a few drinks." Kōhe automatically agreed to my proposition and we began to make our way into town.

~~ ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ ~~

We stopped by a few clothing shops, I bought myself a fresh pair of jeans and a new sky blue flannel, the red checkered flannel I owned wasn't cutting it anymore and old jeans had too many holes to patch up.

"You're not gonna buy new boots?" I heard Kōhe say as he watched me buckle my belt around my waist, his bulky frame leaning against the wall of the store.

"Nope." I sat down to put my shin-high boots on, sliding them over my jeans. "I lost my blade, I am not losing my boots."

"Some kind of emotional attachment?" He raised an eyebrow.

"My grandfather gave me these boots, they were his, but he grew out of them and since they fit me so well, he gave them to me." I huffed out as I zipped my boot up.

I saw his head nodding from the corner of my eye. I got up from the seat I was just on and walked over to him. "Right then, drinks." I smiled.

~~ ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ ~~

We found a bar deeper into town. It was wrong of me to assume that people wouldn't mind us. The men stopped drinking immediately and looked at us, complete silence. They stared as if they've never seen an Asian man or a woman in jeans and boots before. I stopped in front of Kōhe, a thick feeling in my throat. Kōhe could careless and gave me a small push to keep walking. I made it to the counter, a few seconds passed and the silence was gone and replaced by the loud talking and laughter of the men.

The bar attendant was serving a few people before he came to us. His eyes look tired. He had gray curly hair, his belly was big, looked a little over maybe thirty years old. "What would it be?" He asked without looking up from the glass he was cleaning.

"I'll take a bitter, thanks." Kōhe said.

The attendant nodded his head and turned to face me. "I'll get a stout, with ice, please." The attendant smiled and went to get our drinks.

I felt Kōhe's eyes on me and turned to face him. He had a grin on his face. "What?" I asked him.

"A stout? Really?" He chuckled.

I shrugged. "What? It's good."

"It's good because it tastes nothing like alcohol and exactly like coffee." He rested his head on his hand, against the counter.

I felt vulnerable, searching for a snappy comeback, but none came. "Here you go." The man pulled up with our drinks and set them down for us.

"Thank you." I said, thanking him for the drink, but also thanking him for stopping the teasing.

We began taking swigs from our drinks, Kōhe taking longer ones. In the background we heard two boots walking against the wooden planks of the floor. We paid no mind, it wasn't until they reached the counter where we were sitting.

"Can I help you with anything, officers?" The bar attendant asked. They got Kōhe's attention when they stood besides him. I glanced to check them out, nothing special, just average cops. I then went back to minding my business and kept drinking. Kōhe however looked past his shoulder to observe them more closely.

"We're looking for a person. White male, is about six feet tall, goes by Jaeger." One of the men leaned over and the other one took out a paper with a man's face printed onto it, presumably Jaeger's.

The bar attendant looked at the paper, his eyes went wide, he looked panicked. Kōhe immediately turned his head back around to face me after taking a peek. One of the officers turned to look at us, taking a quick glance then turning back at the attendant. "Uh no, I haven't see him around here, sir." The bar attendant said.

The officer sighed and the other one handed him the paper. "If you do, please notify us immediately. He is a very dangerous man, we do not want any more casualties because of him."

The attendant chuckled out nervously. "Will do, officers." Giving them a smile as they walked out. Kōhe turned back to see them leave.

"Hey, do you remember those goons that attacked us in Texas?" Kōhe leaned in closer to me and quietly spoke.

"Yeah? Why?" I said as I chewed the ice in my cup.

"I think they're here too."

"Really?" I said in a sarcastic tone. "What makes you think that?" I tried reaching the ice cubes stuck at the back of the cup.

"Those guys that just came in, they weren't sheriff."

I set my cup down to reason with him, he was making a pretty bold claim. "How do you know that? You don't know what sharifs here look like."

"He's right." The bar attendant was suddenly in front of us across the counter. Kōhe and I both jumped in our seat, startled, as our quiet conversation was interrupted. "Name's Ethan, by the way." He awkwardly inserted his hand to shake.

"Eli." I shook his hand.

"Kōhe." He smiled and happily shook Ethan's hand.

I turned to look at Kōhe, then at the Ethan. "So, you said Kōhe was right?" I questioned, pointing at Kōhe next to me.

Ethan nodded yes. "Those weren't real sheriffs." He said quietly.

I leaned in closer to speak. "Who were they then?"

"I'm not sure. There's a group here, they came here about a month ago. My best guess is they might be working for someone." He nodded.

Kōhe and I looked at each other, still confused at the whole situation. "You know the man in the picture?" Kōhe asked, pointing at the paper in Ethan's hand.

He looked down at his fist with the paper crumpled in it and deeply sighed. "Yes." And flattened out the paper onto the table.

"If they work for someone, that means the person they're working for has to be some kind of rich..." I mumbled to myself. "Ethan, where does the wealthiest person in town live?" I asked.

"Oh, dear, no one in town is that rich enough to have a small army of their own." He scoffed.

I frowned and looked over to Kōhe who shrugged. "I just don't get it, why would the same guys that were in Texas, be here too."

"They were looking for that Jaeger guy, so why don't you ask him?" I joked, eating the last of my ice.

Kōhe took a closer look at it, while Ethan and I kept talking about who the weird men in blue might work for. Ethan was listing the names of the richest people living outside of town, rich city people. I glanced over to Kōhe, he was entranced at the picture. I tapped his shoulder gently to call his attention. "You okay?" I asked.

He ignored my question, his eyes widened all of a sudden. "I gotta go."

Kōhe got up and took the paper, walking out of the bar, quickly. I watched as he exited, turning back to Ethan, looking confused as hell. "I think your friend is going to try and actually look for Jaeger." Ethan said.

I choked. "It was a joke!" I coughed out, pulling out a tip for the service. "Thanks, Ethan." I placed the money on the table and ran out to Kōhe.

I was able to catch up with him as I pushed through the crowd. "Where are you going?" I gripped his shoulder as we kept walking.

"To find Jaeger, like you said."

I scoffed, not thinking he would have taken me seriously. "I- it was a joke!" I snatched the crumpled poster from his hand. "You can't find this guy, he's wanted for murder and theft." I pointed at the poster.

He suddenly grabbed my wrist and pulled me out of the crowd. We walked, mostly him pulling me, towards a more private area away from the crowd. He stopped us near the entrance of the forest then walked in some. He let go, his hand leaving a red fingered pattern on my wrist where he held me. I felt a small sting in my arm.

He let out a distressed sigh, placing his fingers at the bridge of his nose. "Listen, I know what this guy is probably capable of, and I can handle it. You however, that's the problem."

"Oh, so I'm the problem now?" I couldn't help but feel somewhat offended. "I thought you brought me here to 'protect me'" I sassed.

"The problem is you getting hurt." He snapped back.

I kept quiet. I understood. Obviously I was more frail and fragile than him, he did have a point. "But I can protect myself just fine! Besides, why do you care?" I rebutted.

"That's not the point. Point is that you don't get hurt, at all."

I went silent. No snarky comeback coming to mind. We both looked each other, a deep, long stare into our eyes. "Tch, Fine." I huffed and pulled my head away.

He let a small smirk, of relief, play out in his face. I let my head hang, staring to the ground. I really wanted to follow him on his "adventure". I felt his hand place over my shoulder, causing me to look up. There he was, a small, gentle smile on his face. His hand traveled down to my forearm where he inspected the red finger markings on my wrist.

"I'm sorry for grabbing you so harshly." He softly spoke out.

"It's okay, don't worry about it." I reassured him.

We both stood there in silence, his warm hand over the finger marks on my arm. There was this off tension, like we both wanted to do something, but something was holding us back. It was getting too awkward for my liking and I pulled out the poster.

"I'll see if there's anything useful on here." I put the poster up, showing him awkwardly.

He must have caught onto my obvious discomfort. "Okay." A smug smirk appeared as he walked away. My heart was beating faster than usual. God it's only been two days with him and he's making me feel these weird things. I began to hum softly to myself. I looked closer at the poster, trying to find any other notably worthy detail on Jaeger.

Meanwhile, Kōhe looked around the forest. Something must have caught his ear because he was looking around frantically up in the trees. His eyes searched around, scanning the area. There was something there, he just couldn't pinpoint it.

Suddenly I spotted something, on the side of Jaeger's neck. Squinting at the picture as I brought it closer to my face. "Hey come look at this."

Kōhe's eyes went wide, "Eli get down!" I looked up from the paper and saw Kōhe running towards me, pushing me down, his body hovering over mine.

I felt the wind knocked out of me as I hit the floor. One of Kōhe's hands was placed on the back of my head to make sure I wouldn't hit the ground. "Wha- what the hell is going on?!" I yelled.

"Someone's here." He panted out. I turned my head and saw an arrow sticking out of the ground as if someone shot it at us. "We gotta move, go!" He helped me up and we ran to the entrance of the forest from where we came in.

Kōhe ran behind me, making sure I wouldn't trip over tree roots or over my own ankles. I kept hearing the flare of the arrows firing at us. My head was ducked between my arms that protected the sides of my head. Kōhe still ran behind, giving me a few pushes here and there to run faster.

"We're almost there." I saw the entrance of the forest, we just needed to climb up a small sloped hill.

"Don't stop." He replied.

As soon as I began to climb up I heard a thump. I turned and saw Kōhe on the ground, groaning out. I rushed over to him, kneeling besides him. "What happened?"

I scanned his body, my eyes landing on the problem. He got hit. There was an arrow pierced right through his calve with a rope attached to it, blood beginning to spew out. "Oh god," I wasn't sure what to do. "We're almost there, just get up." I wrapped his arm around my shoulder and tried to pick him up.

"No, Eli! Just go!" He commanded.

"Shut up!" I cursed as I made an effort to drag him out.

"Agh!" He hollered out.

I looked down and saw the rope attached to the arrow begin to tug at his leg. He was being pulled away, dragged along the forest floor. "No!" I got ahold of his hands, pulling him back.

The thing that was pulling him from the other side pulled back. "Agh- what the-?!" Kōhe yelled.

We were playing a game of tug of war with Kōhe in between. I had nothing sharp in my pocket that would allow me to rip the rope from his leg. And I couldn't take the arrow out or else he'd bleed out. I only pulled. "Let. Him. Go." I struggled.

Kōhe's hands slipped through mine, making me fall back on the ground. As soon as I got up Kōhe was already being dragged further away. "Eli!" He yelled one last time.

I ran behind him, but he was gone. He vanished up into the trees. I frantically looked around, trying to find him. "Kōhe!" There was no answer. "Kōhe!" I called. "Kōhe!"

Nothing.

**Author's Note:**

> In case you don’t get whom this “Kōhe” man is, it’s an old meme from one of Max’s Pokémon videos where Joji comes out and says “my name Kōhe.” So anyways I thought that was cool or whatever


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